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Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Packers work the Big Mo'

No, we're not talking about the Packers working out a new player with a Three Stooges-esque nickname. Rather, it's a reference to what the Pack had going for them the last half of the season, and which they put on full display in Sunday's victory over the Cardinals.

Momentum.

That's the Big Mo' that the Packers have been stoking over the last 8+ weeks. Coaches and players alike feel it and don't want to let it escape by backing off now. Especially not now. That's why head coach Mike McCarthy played his starters long after it was necessary given the game situation and roll-over by the Cards.

There are certainly different strategies for going into the playoffs. Some coaches have rested players -- and lost a game or two -- to get ready for the playoff run. They might very well lose momentum. Some coaches -- like McCarthy -- keep playing as if tomorrow depended upon it. And when you look at it that way, it does. There is the risk of injury, of course, with the latter. With both styles, actually. It's football and all it takes is one play, as we saw with the Patriots' Wes Welker as well as the Cardinals' Anquan Boldin. The Packers seem to have dodged a bullet with the injury to Charles Woodson late in the game. Woodson has been nursing a shoulder problem a good chunk of the season, and aggravated it again. But he'll be ready to roll come Sunday, you know that.

Anyway...back to the momentum thing...there's a good article in today's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about just that topic and McCarthy's approach to it. Check it out here.